Face vectors of subdivided simplicial complexes (Q658047)

For a simplicial complex \(X\) let \(f^{X} = (f_{-1}^X,f_0^X,\ldots, f_{d-1}^X)\) denote the \(f\)-vector of \(X\) and \(f^X(t) = \sum_{i=0}^df_{i-1}^Xt^{d-i}\) the \(f\)-polynomial of \(X\). Let \(X^{(n)}\) denote the \(n\)-th \textit{barycentric subdivision} of \(X\). This paper investigates the limits of the \(d-1\) largest roots of \(f^{X^{(n)}}(t)\) when \(n\) tends to infinity. In particular, a new proof is given of the known fact (see [\textit{F. Brenti} and \textit{V. Welker}, Math. Z. 259, No. 4, 849--865 (2008; Zbl 1158.52013)]) that these mention \(d-1\) roots converge to \(d-1\) negative real numbers that only depend on \(d\) and not on simplicial complex \(X\). Further, it is shown that these \(d-1\) limit roots are invariant under the map \(x \mapsto -x/(x+1)\). Viewing the barycentric subdivision as a map on the \(f\)-polynomials, it turns out that barycentric subdivision yields a linear map \(b : {\mathbb{Z}}[t]\rightarrow {\mathbb{Z}}[t]\) given by \(b(g(t)) = \sum_{k\geq 0}\Delta^k\{g(\ell)\}_{\ell}t^k\), and is therefore completely determined by the images of the monomials \(b(t^k)\). Here, \(\Delta^k\) denotes the \textit{\(k\)-th difference operator} and (the abusive notation) \(\Delta^k\{a_{\ell}\}_{\ell}\) denotes the first term of the \(k\)-th difference sequence of \(\{a_{\ell}\}_{\ell\geq 0}\). If now \(B : {\mathbb{Z}}[t][[x]]\rightarrow {\mathbb{Z}}[t][[x]]\) is defined by \(B(\sum_{k\geq 0}g_k(t)x^k) = \sum_{k\geq 0}b(g_k(t))x^k\), then it is shown that \(B\) satisfies \[ B(e^{tx}) = \frac{1}{1-(e^x-1)t}, \] an identity that completely determines the ring map \(b\) and hence also \(B\).